Siblings Eric Ross and Felicia Engles, the pizzeria's owners, are renovating the building that used to house Chi-Ling Chinese Restaurant at 4085 S. Ridgewood Ave. in Port Orange to house their new Panheads location, which they expect to open by early April.

"We always anticipated opening another shop," Ross said.

Unlike the Panheads restaurant in New Smyrna Beach, the new Port Orange location will feature a larger menu consisting of pasta dishes, such as gnocchi and ravioli served in chicken broth, said Ross, who oversees the kitchen operations at Panheads.

The 7,000-square-foot Port Orange building is substantially larger than the 1,600-square-foot Panheads restaurant in downtown New Smyrna Beach at 113 S. Orange St., near the corner of Canal and Orange streets.

Though Ross and Engles are leasing the entire Port Orange building, their Port Orange Panheads restaurant will initially use only about 1,800 square feet for the dining area and about 300 square feet for kitchen space.

The siblings said they are unsure of what they will do with the remaining space, but Engles said they might eventually use it as a package store that would sell craft and import beer or a gallery that would feature local artists.

"We don't want to move from that quaint feel we have in New Smyrna," Engles said.

The siblings opened Panheads in New Smyrna Beach in 2010. The pizzeria uses a sauce recipe handed down by Ross and Engles' grandmother, who for decades operated a pizza restaurant in Pennsylvania.

Ross, who earned a culinary degree from Johnson & Wales University, said he was drawn to the Port Orange building in part because of its large kitchen. The Port Orange Panheads' kitchen can accommodate more ovens than the New Smyrna Beach store can, which could allow the restaurant to offer home delivery eventually, Ross said. The New Smyrna Beach location does not offer home delivery.

Additionally, Ross said he plans to test new menu items for both restaurants at the Port Orange location.

"(Operating) a pizza shop is awesome," Ross said. "But, if I could do more of what I went to school for — if I could have more options — that would be (better)."

Panheads' owners also made the decision to expand in Port Orange in part to be closer to their customers in the northeast corner of the county, Engles said.

"We have a huge number of customers from Ormond (Beach) who have been asking us to open a store closer," Engles said.

Ross and Engles will be renting the building from the Galbreath family, who owns the Aunt Catfish's on the River seafood restaurant behind the new Panheads location at the corner of Dunlawton Avenue and Halifax Drive.

The Galbreaths bought the Ridgewood Avenue property in 2011 and have been using it for Aunt Catfish overflow parking since. Aunt Catfish will still use some of the lot's parking spaces even after Panheads opens, leaving Panheads with enough spaces to accommodate about 100 guests, Engles said.

In addition, the Galbreaths are building a driveway that will connect the Panheads parking lot to Halifax Drive, which would enable diners coming from the beach to reach Panheads without having to make a U-turn on South Ridgewood Avenue.

Brendan Galbreath, owner of Aunt Catfish, said he was looking for a restaurant to occupy the building into which Panheads is moving.

"We had all the infrastructure in place," Galbreath said. "You hate not to use it if you have the opportunity."

The Port Orange Panheads will initially employ 11 workers, Engles said. Ross will manage the new location, while Engles will remain at the New Smyrna Beach Panheads.

Engles added that Panheads is also looking to eventually expand to West Volusia — possibly DeLand. However, the company right now is focused on opening its Port Orange location, she said.

Tim Burman, principal planner for the city of Port Orange, said he welcomes the new pizza restaurant.

"That's one of the things we're trying to do on Ridgewood Avenue — to get new businesses in there," Burman said. "So this goes toward that goal."

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